


A Winter's Love

by LetThereBeDestiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Dean embarrasses himself as always, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, M/M, a bit of salt, fluff?, kinda cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 05:15:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12574508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetThereBeDestiel/pseuds/LetThereBeDestiel
Summary: "Dean and Cas turning up to the same Halloween party accidentally in complementary costumes. Everyone spends the evening assuming they’re a couple." (Tumblr prompt)





	A Winter's Love

**Author's Note:**

> Proofread by [Amanda](https://www.instagram.com/lets_go_steal_a_tardis/). Thank you so much for making this one better!

 Dean Winchester was never the type to wear costumes.

Alright – alone, in his bedroom, when no one could see him? Sure. But out in the open, with two hundred people watching? No thanks; not if it was up to him.

But it wasn’t. Because Charlie didn’t want to walk around in tight leather by herself all evening, and Sam was a few grades younger than any of the seniors, so Dean was unwillingly persuaded to take the Captain America costume out of his bottom drawer and join his friend Black Widow and his brother Thor to a Halloween party at some popular douchebag’s house.

So there he was, standing by the front door in blue tights.

“Let’s stick together,” he said before they stepped in.

It didn’t take thirty seconds before he was on his own. Sam went off to get a drink – non-alcoholic, Dean warned him – and Charlie squeezed in between people to get to a corner where two junior girls were standing.

Dean was left alone in the dimly lit living room, standing in front of a Deadpool and a sexy nurse rubbing against one another to the rhythm of the music. He looked around and sighed. Sam and Charlie weren’t coming back.

He had no choice but to socialize.

He walked deeper into the house, trying to make his way towards a familiar face. To his left, a Harley Quinn pulled female Jack Sparrow’s elbow and gestured at him, whispering eagerly in her ear.

_Ugh, no,_ he thought as the two girls examined his costume. _It’s the tights._

He shuffled away from them and stopped in front of an improvised bar – a dining table that had been pushed against a wall in the spacious living room – where a broad guy in a suit was asking Batwoman for a glass of lemon juice and vodka – “Shaken, not stirred.”

“What can I get for you?” Batwoman asked, nudging her head toward Dean without looking at him as she handed the broad guy his drink.

“A good beer,” he said with a huff, spotting another guy that examined him from the improvised dance floor. Batwoman pulled her mask upwards onto the top of her head.

“Dean!” She grinned and handed him a Blue Moon from what appeared to be an ice bucket beneath the table. “Long time no see.”

“Oh, hey,” he said, fighting the urge to remove his mask as well; the timing would give him away, and he would seem way too self-aware. Wouldn’t he?

“Look at you,” Batwoman said, looking him down and up. He tried not to squint at her – she was familiar, last year's graduate for sure – Anna? Maybe Annie?

“Those tights really give me that masculine look, eh?” He joked, trying to sound lighthearted rather than nervous.

“Looks good, actually,” she smiled and handed a gothic witch her Cuba Libre.

“Well, well,” a surprised voice called behind him then. He turned around to see Balthazar in a Joker costume. “Winchester. Thought you weren’t coming.”

“Well, here I am,” Dean muttered at the guy and sipped from his beer.

“Did Castiel put you up to this?” Balthazar asked, leaning against the dining table and looking Annie – Anna? – over.

“Charlie,” Dean said, looking away. A moment later, though, he unwillingly turned to Balthazar.

“Why would Castiel put me up to this?” He asked, his head crooking instinctively. He knew Castiel, if only vaguely – it was an odd guy from his advanced math class. They’d mumble an awkward “Hi” to each other in the halls sometimes, but they never actually talked.

“Well, you two came together, didn’t you?” Balthazar raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Dean frowned, confused.

On his other side, the goth witch snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“Why would you think…” He started, but his voice faded. “You know what, never mind.” He squeezed in between a Darth Vader and a Princess Leia, then made his way to another part of the room, looking around for Charlie or Sam to save him.

By the entrance, where she’s been since leaving Dean thirty minutes ago, Charlie was leaning against a wall and talking flirtatiously with someone Dean couldn’t see. He walked towards them, elbowing a few human obstacles on the way. Someone turned around and smiled at him, shouting to top the volume of the music: “I didn’t know you and Cas were dating!”

“We’re not!” Dean yelled back, his brows pulling together. He didn’t understand – why was everyone assuming there’s some secret connection between him and Weird Advanced Math Guy?

“Why’d you come in complementary costumes, then?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered, scanning the room. Where was the guy, anyway? The whole thing was getting annoying – he should find Castiel and sort this out.

“Come on,” someone said behind him, “Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes? Who dresses like that to the same party if they’re not dating?”

Dean gritted his teeth. Who the hell just assumes that two guys who never even see each other are dating? And even if they were, who gives all these people the right to talk about their private lives like that?

“We were just asking,” the guy said, probably seeing Dean’s irritated expression. “It just kinda looked like…”

The following shout was audible throughout the living room, despite the loud music: “Captain America and the Winter Soldier aren’t dating!”

The dancing bodies around Dean fell silent and stared at him.

Dean’s face reddened.

_Great._ Over the forty-five minutes he's been in that party, he somehow managed to make a complete fool of himself, with a handful of a perfect idiot and just a pinch of so-straight-it's-gay. 

His eyes searched for an escape route, but the only seemingly person-less area he saw was the kitchen. He made his way towards it, keeping his eyes on the floor and praying to the spirits that no one from his class saw him snap. The last thing he needed after doing something embarrassing was a constant reminder of it. 

The kitchen lightbulb was dimmed by a big paper-cut pumpkin, causing the light from the bulb to come out orange. Hanging across the window was a thread of tiny ghost lanterns. There were no drinks or food around, which deemed the room useless for anyone who wasn't searching for a hideout – which wasn't only Dean, as he found out when he managed to free himself from the huge teen-spaghetti in the living room. 

In a corner of the kitchen, leaning against a counter, a dark figure was holding a cup of water in what seemed to be a metallic arm. As Dean stepped closer to the figure, his eyes adjusted to the dark. In front of him stood the Winter Soldier – in the flesh of Weird Advanced Math Guy Castiel. Dean stood in place and looked him over. Castiel examined him as well, holding his cup of water indifferently as if his arm wasn't made out of an inorganic material. 

"So everyone thinks we’re a couple now," Dean said with a scoff, looking the guy up and down a second time. 

Not bad. 

"So I've heard," Castiel said, the upwards curve of his eyebrows suggesting he was referring to Dean's outburst in the other room.  

"It's probably because of your shirt," he mentioned and took a sip of water. Dean’s forehead creased. "What shirt?" 

Castiel raised an eyebrow. “ _Captain America and the Winter Soldier are totally fucking?”_ The blunt words sounded weird in his good-guy mouth. Or at least, Dean had thought he had a good-guy mouth.

“Oh,” he answered wittily. He had forgotten about that shirt – it was a stupid birthday gift Charlie had given him last year as a joke. He wore it exactly once – that same day, _as a joke_.

Of course that joke would come back to haunt his ass nine months later. Just his luck.

In any way, Castiel was still standing in the corner, watching him frowning to himself like a weirdo, so he decided to turn the conversation in Castiel’s direction. He’d suffered enough for one evening.

“You noticed that?” He asked, telling himself he chose that question because he didn’t have anything else to say.

“I saw you around,” Castiel shrugged. The awkward silence was back.

“Why would they think we’re dating?” Dean grumped after about ten seconds, breaking the silence. “We never even talk.” He looked over at the other boy, expecting some kind of reaction, but there was none. Judging by Castiel’s look, he thought Dean’s comment was rude – but then again, any expression that guy had kinda looked like he thought someone was being rude.

As he was looking at Castiel, an idea came to mind, and he shifted from his left leg to his right. 

"Actually, why not," he said, reluctantly enough, though with a vibrant stare. "Maybe we could have a pizza sometime.”

"Are you serious?" Castiel asked, and Dean didn't know whether to take his stare as offended, surprised or suspicious. 

"Yeah, I mean, you seem like a nice guy.”

Castiel squinted at him, and now Dean was positive: it was suspicious. 

They looked at one another for a few long moments, Castiel with a squint, Dean with an attempt at a smile that came out way too nervous.

At last, Castiel reached a verdict.

“How about now?” He asked, still seeming suspicious. Was that just his resting face?

“I’m really suffering here, and my social quota is already over.”

“Um, sure,” Dean stammered, trying to hide his grin. “Let’s go.”

When Dean made his way through the crowded house, Castiel tugging loosely on his arm to not lose him, he spotted Sam and Charlie from the other side of the room. He made a tiny gesture with his head towards Cas, and before he could walk Dean's direction, Charlie grabbed Sam's arm and said something in his ear. 

Before Dean could see anything further, he was out the door, his hand in Cas’. 

When they told people they were dating, a week later, nobody believed them.


End file.
